Thursday, October 8, 2015

Amazon Web Services announced a new managed cloud service provides the infrastructure for Internet of Things (IoT) applications and the ability to securely interact with cloud services and with other devices at "world-scale."

AWS said its platform lets billions of things keep responsive connections to the cloud, and lets cloud applications interact with things (works in device shadows, rules engine, and the real-time functionality). The service is currently in beta.

Key components listed on the AWS IoT developer site:

Things are devices of all types, shapes, and sizes including applications, connected devices, and physical objects. Things measure and/or control something of interest in their local environment. The AWS IoT model is driven by state and state changes. This allows things to work properly even when connectivity is intermittent; applications interact with things by way of cloud-based Thing Shadows. Things have names, attributes, and shadows.

Thing Shadows are virtual, cloud-based representations of things. They track the state of each connected device, and allow that state to be tracked even if the thing loses connectivity for an extended period of time.

The real-time Rules Engine transforms messages based on expressions that you define, and routes them to AWS endpoints (Amazon DynamoDB, Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3), AWS Lambda, Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS), Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS), Amazon Kinesis, and Amazon Kinesis Firehose) all expressed using a SQL-like syntax. Routing is driven by the contents of individual messages and by context. For example, routine readings from a temperature sensor could be tracked in a DynamoDB table; an aberrant reading that exceeds a value stored in the thing shadow can trigger a Lambda function .

The Message Broker speaks MQTT (and also HTTP 1.1) so your devices can take advantage of alternative protocols even if your cloud backend does not speak them. The Message Broker can scale to accommodate billions of responsive long-lived connections between things and your cloud applications. Things use a topic-based pub/sub model to communicate with the broker, and can also publish via HTTP request/response. They can publish their state and can also subscribe to incoming messages. The pub/sub model allows a single device to easily and efficiently share its status with any number of other devices (thousands or even millions).

Device SDKs are client libraries that are specific to individual types of devices. The functions in the SDK allow code running on the device to communicate with the AWS IoT Message Broker over encrypted connections. The devices identify themselves using X.509 certificates or Amazon Cognito identities. The SDK also supports direct interaction with Thing Shadows.

The Thing Registry assigns a unique identity to each thing. It also tracks descriptive metadata such as the attributes and capabilities for each thing.

All of these components can be created, configured, and inspected using the AWS Management Console, the AWS Command Line Interface (CLI), or through the IoT API.

Nokia announced its planned leadership team and organizational structure that will take over once the pending acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent has been completed.

“We are making very good progress on being ready to operate as a combined company when the
proposed exchange offer closes,” said Rajeev Suri, President and Chief Executive Officer of Nokia.

“After a thorough selection process, I am pleased to announce the company’s future organizational structure and exceptional leaders who will help chart the next steps in Nokia’s transformation.”

After the closing of deal, the company will be organized in four business groups: Mobile Networks, Fixed Networks, Applications & Analytics and IP/Optical Networks.

• Mobile Networks (MN) would include Nokia’s and Alcatel-Lucent’s comprehensive Radio portfolios and most of their converged Core network portfolios including IMS/VoLTE and Subscriber Data Management, as well as the associated mobile networks-related Global
Services business. This unit would also include Alcatel-Lucent’s Microwave business and all of the combined company’s end-to-end Managed Services business. Through the combination of these assets, Mobile Networks would provide leading end-to-end mobile networks solutions for existing and new platforms, as well as a full suite of professional services and product-attached services. The designated President of Mobile Networks would be Samih Elhage, who currently serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial and Operating Officer, Nokia Networks.

• Fixed Networks (FN) would comprise the current Alcatel-Lucent Fixed Networks business, whose cutting-edge innovation and market position would be further supported through strong collaboration with the other business groups. This business group would provide copper and fiber access products and services to offer customers ultra-broadband end-to-end solutions to transform their networks, deploying fiber to the most economical point. The designated President of Fixed Networks would be Federico Guillén, who currently serves as President of Fixed Networks, Alcatel-Lucent.

• Applications & Analytics (A&A) would combine the Software and Data Analytics-related operations of both companies. This comprehensive applications portfolio would include Customer Experience Management, OSS as distinct from network management such as service fulfilment and assurance, Policy and Charging, services, Cloud Stacks, management and orchestration, communication and collaboration, Security Solutions, network intelligence and analytics, device management and Internet of Things connectivity management platforms. CloudBand would also be housed in this business group, which would drive innovation to meet the needs of a convergent, Cloud-centric future. The designated President of Applications & Analytics would be Bhaskar Gorti, who currently serves as President of IP Platforms, Alcatel-Lucent.

• IP/Optical Networks (ION) would combine the current Alcatel-Lucent IP Routing, Optical Transport and IP video businesses, as well as the software defined networking (SDN) startup, Nuage, plus Nokia’s IP partner and Packet Core portfolio. IP/Optical Networks would continue to drive Alcatel-Lucent’s technology leadership, building large scale IP/Optical infrastructures for both service providers and, increasingly, web-scale and tech-centric enterprise customers. The designated President of IP/Optical Networks would be Basil Alwan, who currently serves as President of IP Routing and Transport, Alcatel-Lucent.

Each of these business units will provide an end-to-end portfolio of products, software and services. The four Networks business groups would have a common Integration and Transformation Office to drive synergies and to lead integration activities. The business group leaders would report directly to Nokia’s President and Chief Executive Officer:

Nokia Technologies will continue to operate as a separate business group.

Alcatel- Lucent Submarine Networks (ASN) will be operated as a wholly-owned subsidiary.

Qualcomm has begun sampling a 24-core SoC based on the ARMv8-A instruction set and built using advanced FinFet technology. The company's Server Development Platform (SDP) is aimed at high-density data centers.

Qualcomm also announced two key partnerships. The company is partnering with Xilinx to deliver heterogeneous computing solutions for data centers with Qualcomm’s server processor and Xilinx FPGAs. Qualcomm is partnering with Mellanox to enable advanced, cost effective platforms for servers and storage that deliver the fastest, most efficient interconnect solutions for data transfer and analysis with Qualcomm’s server CPU and Mellanox’s Ethernet and InfiniBand interconnect solutions.

"The release of our evaluation system is a major milestone for Qualcomm Technologies. As data centers evolve to support the exponential growth and innovation in data, connectivity and cloud services, Qualcomm Technologies is creating an ecosystem to meet the needs of these next-generation data centers with Qualcomm-based server technologies. Our customers are eager to test and evaluate our Server Development Platform and begin porting their software. We are incorporating their feedback into our product offering with the goal of ensuring system and software readiness by the time we are in full production,” stated Anand Chandrasekher, senior vice president, Qualcomm Technologies.

Coriant is rolling out a set of new capabilities for its Transcend SDN Transport Controller including enhanced multi-layer optimization and standards-based service interworking. The company's approach is to combine SDN with its packet optical transport and smart router products to enable dynamic, end-to-end network control in an open network environment. The platform is currently in customer trials.

"The lack of efficient interworking in multi-vendor transport networks makes it challenging for network operators to meet dynamic, high-capacity service demands in a fast, cost-effective, and profitable way," said Uwe Fischer, Chief Technology Officer, Coriant. "We've taken a highly focused approach to our SDN developments to give our customers the tools to easily apply SDN-enabled automation, programmability, and control to practical applications like rapid service creation in multi-layer IP Optical networks."

Newly released features for the Coriant Transcend SDN Transport Controller include:

Efficient service interworking – enabled by support for the industry-standard IETF RESTCONF interface and YANG data modeling language. These enhancements provide an open API framework for efficient utilization of an abstracted and virtualized photonic layer. This enables automated synchronization between IP and optical layer SDN controllers for enhanced multi-layer traffic engineering, including optimal path computation and dynamic control based on real-time configuration data such as link status, route diversity by Shared Risk Link Groups (SRLGs), and latency.

Simplified service provisioning – enabled by enhancements to the platform's SLA-based service provisioning engine. With the addition of new automated and programmable service provisioning and management capabilities, including advanced SLA monitoring and user-defined SLA parameters, network operators can enhance service differentiation and translate real-time performance data into actionable end-user reports.

Enhanced resource utilization – enabled by optical impairment-aware multi-layer Path Computation Element (PCE). This feature enhancement enables optimal allocation of network resources according to service requests and SLA parameters, assuring the best path in the network for service traffic based on optical impairments, path restrictions, equipment and fiber status, and specific service-defined constraints such as latency.

Flexible network partitioning – enabled by network virtualization and varying levels of network abstraction. Enhanced network slicing features provide network operators the tools to virtually apportion segments of the network across multiple products and layers to satisfy the specific requirements of a particular end-user. For example, network slicing can be used to partition services for a retail carrier in a wholesale environment, a large enterprise, or an internal service provider client (e.g., IP Services business unit).

Coriant launched its Transcend SDN software suite, providing an advanced programming environment and open interfaces that empower on-demand, application-centric service agility and monetization of network assets. The solution combines many of Coriant’s SDN and NSV solutions: Coriant Transcend Orchestrator based on the OpenDaylight Project, the Coriant Transcend Transport Controller, the Coriant Transcend Application Suite, and integration of Open...

Paratus Telecom, a telecommunications operator in Namibia, has deployed Infinera's TM-Series for its metro network in the capital city of Windhoek. The new installation enables Paratus to deliver multi-service transport services with low power, high density and bandwidth scalability.

"The Infinera TM-Series packet-optical network solution effectively addresses our bandwidth requirements to keep up with the rapid growth in converged network services," said Samantha Geyser, Executive of Planning. "Built with the operator in mind, the TM-Series increases bandwidth, flexibility and functionality of our new metro WDM transport network. This allows Paratus to take advantage of cost efficient Ethernet services, ultra-low latency and low power consumption."